* I was not paid to endorse these products. All thoughts and comments are my own.

You all know that I am now an avid surfer and yogi. Well, surfing and practicing yoga in colder weather just does so much damage to your lips and skin. Lately, I have been dealing with dry, cracking and even bleeding lips with no relief. I have also been dealing with dry skin, and even with all the moisturizers and sunscreen, still dry and cracking.

Finally, I found natural and organic products from Last Meridian that has been healing my lips and skin. It’s made locally (to me) in Santa Cruz. I tried their Northern Kiss Lip Balm and Surf Balm.

What I love about the Northern Kiss lip balm is it’s made from Beeswax, Cocoa butter Cocoa powder, Sweet almond oil, Local Raw Honey, Spruce essential oil, and Peppermint essential oil. All of these products mixed together smells great but also feels great on my achy lips. It’s been healing all of my issues, and I couldn’t be happier.

I also started using Last Meridian Surf Balm for actually everyday use. It’s an SPF 30, and I find the balm is more soothing to my skin and also has a hydrating quality. I have to wear SPF everyday, and even under makeup. It’s great for under any foundations or powders, and it’s not oily.

I’m absolutely in love! For more information on Last Meridian products click here

So this past week, my husband and I took a vacation to The Big Island in Hawaii. We were also there to celebrate my birthday, which happened to be a BIG birthday. I guess it made sense to go to the BIG island. We decided to stay in Kailua Kona, which is full of lava fields, and it pretty much felt like a different planet.

The Big Island isn’t known for it’s surfing, but you can surf there, I mean there is a coast. It’s just not lined with surf shops like Maui or Oahu. It’s mainly rocky which isn’t a difference for me being a Santa Cruz surfer. I did have something interesting happen to me on my birthday, which I wanted to share. The surf report wasn’t that big, so I wanted to go to our local beach break. It’s a beautiful inlet with somewhat of a beach and comes equipped with lifeguards, so I went to talk to the local surf shop. Now, this isn’t my first time surfing somewhere else, and it’s not my first time surfing in Hawaii. I know the rules, and I’m well aware I’m a guest, but usually I don’t have an issue. I just make casual conversation and mention I’m a Santa Cruz surfer, and that breaks the ice. For those who don’t know, Santa Cruz surfers have a reputation of being SUPER AGGRO. Well, that didn’t work this time. They were pretty much turned off by me from the beginning. They were worried about broken boards and the rocky terrain so they wouldn’t rent me out a board (they also denied others), and just to put icing on my birthday cake, told me to go to Kauai where the “surfer girls” go. Surfer girls in this context was said in a negative way.

In the past, I have written on how “surfer girl” could be a derogatory term if used in such a way, but in the past year, it’s also become a term I really enjoy. The people I surf with use it as a term of endearment, and as multiple FEMALE surfers have said, we have all been called much worse in the water. Needless to say, I didn’t surf on The Big Island, and I wasn’t going to rent a board where I’m not welcome. Now, I didn’t let it ruin my day, and sadly this won’t be the last time I run into this, but it makes me appreciate ALL the surfers I know who believe men and women can surf.

I have documented my struggles in finding a yoga studio that fits my needs. Either the yoga isn’t my style (Vinyasa), the class times aren’t consistent, or frankly, the yoga studio is too expensive for my frequency.

Well, I pushed myself to yoga class last night by a teacher who gives free classes out of her converted garage. It was a perfect night to practice yoga as well. It was super rainy and cold, and since we were in a converted garage, the rain sounded awesome.

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. My muscles have been hurting lately and a guided practice is exactly what I needed.

It’s very rare that I surf the weekends anymore, mainly because the beaches are so crowded. This particular weekend I had to surf because the huge XXL swell was easing, and we have rain forecasted most of the week.

My group of surfer buddies went out a little earlier than low tide, just to get into position. After paddling and catching some mushy waves (or trying to), I was just frustrated in the area of the ocean my group was sitting in. I decided to paddle more towards the cliff, hanging out with another surfer.

We took turns on the shoulder of the wave, then all of a sudden this huge elephant seal came out of nowhere! If you aren’t sure what elephant seals look like, see the pic below. Picture courtesy of National Geographic

He/she was huge, and seemed to be following us. My new surfer friend and I decided to immediately exit the water to let the Elephant Seal pass. Strangely enough, he/she never really left. The Elephant Seal moved from the shore, to a rock, then back to shore. These are always good reminders as I am a guest in the sea.

Finally, when the waves started to break did the Elephant Seal go back out to sea. Readers, I would love to know what is your weirdest animal encounter?

I’m getting ready for a pretty big surf session tomorrow, so I felt that today yoga would be a great way to relax and stretch out my aching muscles

Since I have been setting up more home practice than anything, I decided to dedicate a place in my living room for my mat. I thought this would be a nice place, especially with the sunlight.

Btw, I know my yoga mat is completely worn out, but I love it so much I really can’t part with it.

Today, I focused on more of a “warm vinyaas flow” to keep the heart rate up and stretch out my leg muscles. Today consisted of a lot of chaturangas, planks, and half moon poses. I also did some pop ups just to keep it fresh.

So, as most of you know, I’m a Santa Cruz surfer, which means the water is about 50 -58 degrees. A wetsuit is a must because of things like hypothermia. What are not always used are booties and gloves, your feet and hands might get cold but nothing extreme will happen.

So the other day, while I was doing some yoga stretches and dry pop ups it dawned on me; I can feel every part of my foot. I haven’t surfed without booties in Santa Cruz in a long time, and my booties tend to be extra thick and padded. Great for ankle support, but not great for feeling your feet.

So, today was a surfing day. The swell was fantastic! 5-6 feet and most beaches, long period swell ans chunky powerful waves. We’re gonna get hit with an XXL swell by end of the weekend (maybe even Mavericks will happen next week). With the weather 65 degrees, I decided to go without booties. I wanted to see if it hurts or helps my surfing ability.

Guess what? Totally did better without the booties. Of course the water was freezing, but I could really turn into the wave. And not to mention after surfing my feet were freezing! Guess that’s why Uggs were invented 😁

About three months ago, we bought a weight machine and an elliptical machine. Our reasoning was since my husband and I both work from home, having a home gym would be less than monthly gym memberships and we don’t have to leave to work out.

It did take us a while to set up, since we had to do some extreme cardboard box removing, but it is finally all done. I honestly don’t use the weight machine, I like free weights, but I have been using the elliptical on a regular basis.

My favorite thing of our home gym is the tv my husband installed. Now really no excuse not to exercise.

My workout lately has consisted of cardio or hill workouts and watching surf movies on the regular. As for yoga, I practice inside the house because the garage floor is concrete and that hurts in yoga practice.

Readers, do you like to watch tv or listen to music while working out?

In my previous post, I wrote that last week I was going to get back into the swing of my routine, and I very much did.

I started on Monday, surfing at a spot I hadn’t surfed in quite a few months. It tends to be a more intermediate spot in the Winter, and I was excited to see what my new Locus Surfboard was made of. It was on Monday that I took the longest and biggest wave of my life, and the board did fantastic! She is so fast, I love it! The pic below doesn’t do the waves that day justice, but it does show how nice the waves were.

I also knew after that epic ride, my ankle had enough for the day. I could feel it instantly start to swell within my bootie, but it was worth it.

On Tuesday, my ankle still was a little swollen so I decided to try out my balance board to strengthen some ankle support. Also, the wave report for Wednesday was going to be good, so I wanted to rest before a long surf session.

Wednesday came and along with it came excitement. My ankle was feeling better, my wetsuit was clean and the forecast was around 70 degrees. I usually arrive at the beach before the tide drops in order to get get the best spot in the lineup, and I happened to snap a picture of what the waves looked like at higher tide. I was beyond excited!

I surfed for hours in perfect tide conditions. I had some great rides and some not great rides, but I always love learning what a new board is made of. Its always fun for me to try new pop up styles and new foot positions in conditions like this.

After surfing for hours, yet again my ankle had enough. I knew I needed some yoga in general, so I did about and hour of a yoga session at home.

The rest of the week was full of holidays celebrations with the family, and unfortunately taking care of our sick dog Kokoa.

She’s doing a lot better now after a vet visit, some antibiotics and a lot of sleep.

I’m excited to start this week of surfing again. Surf conditions will be smaller but it’s always good to just paddle. I also have a couple of yoga sessions planned. Should be a very productive week.

I used to be a very creative kid. I was always sewing, painting, making lanyards, knitting or creating clay figurines. I guess as I got older, I just sort of stopped creating things.

I’m always inspired by craftysurf.com, so I thought today, I would make a couple of bracelets to go with the beautiful anchor bracelet I won off her blog. Also, I love beachy, surfer -yogi bracelets, so wouldn’t it be nice to create it myself?

Being inspired by my new surfboard colors, I went to the local craft shop and bought nylon string and jute string in peach, champagne and teal colors. I like the natural look of the jute string. I also bought a nice starfish charm, just to try out.

I found a really easy braided pattern online, and made two bracelets; one with the charm and one without.

Maybe next time I will add beads and a more complicated stitch. I also love hemp cord so I will probably experiment with that next time.